This Website if for a Chavacano Handbook; El Espanol que habla en Zamboanga

Tenses, Gender, Singular-Plural, Negatives

In Chavacano there are only the simple present, past and future tenses. We do not have perfect or past perfect, or future perfect tenses as in Spanish or English.

To indicate tenses, the expression “ta” is used for present, “ya” for past, (and) “el” or “ay” for future tense. The ”ay” in used in informal situations , as in the family, etc. The expression “pa” refers to something that is “on going”. The repetition of the last syllable of a verb also indicate an on-going activity.

Examples:

Present:

I am drinking coffee. Ta toma yo café.

Future:

I will drink coffee tomorrow.

El (Ay) toma yo cafe mañana.

Past:

I drank coffee yesterday. Ya toma yo cafe ayer.

Progressve/ On going

I am still drinking cofee. Ta toma pa yo cafe.

This is a pineapple fruit.

Este fruta de piña.

Present:

I am eating pineapple. Ta come yo piña.

Future:

I will eat pineapple tomorrow.

El come yo piña mañana.

Past:

I ate pineapple yesterday.

Ya come yo piña ayer.

On going;

I am still eating pineapple.

Ta come pa yo piña.

Gender

Gender is not emphasized or clearly defined in Chavacano. . The pronoun “el” can mean he, she, or it. Similarly, all nouns are generally expressed in the masculine form. The word “la” to designate the feminine gender has fallen into disuse in Chavacano who are fond of shortcutting words/sentecnes.

Gender is also indicated by the last letter of the word, “o” for male, and “a” for female.

brother hermano

sister hermana

grandfather abuelo

grandmother abuela

uncletío

auntie tía

nephew sobrino

niece sobrina

godfather padrino

godmother madrina

grandson nieto

granddaughter nieta

Singular & Plural

The plural forms for nouns in Chavacano usually follow the Spanish or English rule on numbers.

To make a noun plural in Chavacano, add “S” more so if the noun ends with a vowel. So un gato (a cat) becomes dos gatos (two cats). The word for month -(mes)- becomes plural by adding es. Note also that the plural forms of most nouns are indicated by the modifier “maga” or “mana” before the word. Maga is Tagalog word for “some” or indicating the plural form of a noun. Thus: the singular mesa is used as a plural with maga mesa, maga ventana, maga libro, maga zapatos, maga gente, maga ojos. Some Chavacanos use “mana.”

Negatives Hende

The Chavacanos use the word “hende” meaning “not” as a negative. The origin of this word is “hindi” which is Tagalog for ‘not’. Unlike the rule of muting the setter “h” in words, the “h” in hende is not muted.

not clear hende claro o oscuro

not ripe hende maduro o jilaw

not happy hende alegre o triste

not tall hende alto o bajo

not sad hende triste o alegre

For those used to spelling Hindi in Tagalog, the spelling of “hende” in Chavacano come natural. The H here is pronounced, although some would spell the word as ”jendeh”.